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Ted Cruz and Beto O'Rourke Senate race 'too close to call,' poll says

Beto O'Rourke has been campaigning against Sen. Ted Cruz for a year, traveling to the farthest corners of the state in the hopes of swaying independent voters and encouraging Democrats to turn out to the polls and vote in November.

Ted Cruz and Beto O'Rourke Senate race 'too close to call,' poll says

AUSTIN — A new Quinnipiac University Poll released Wednesday shows that the race for the U.S. Senate in Texas between Ted Cruz and Beto O'Rourke is "too close to call."

The poll found that 47 percent of adults surveyed were prepared to back Republican incumbent Cruz, while 44 percent supported O'Rourke, his Democratic challenger who represents El Paso in Congress.

"Democrats have had a target on Sen. Ted Cruz's back, and they may be hitting the mark," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the poll, in a statement.

The poll surveyed 1,029 Texas voters earlier this month and has a 3.6 percent margin of error.

O'Rourke has been campaigning against Cruz for a year, traveling to the farthest corners of the state in the hopes of swaying independent voters and encouraging Democrats to turn out to the polls and vote in November.

Long considered a long-shot Senate candidate, O'Rourke has surprised political observers with his fundraising prowess by repeatedly outraising Cruz. During the first three months of this year, he raised $6.7 million to Cruz's $3.2 million

If he wins in November, he would be the first Democrat elected to statewide office in Texas since 1994.

Soon after results of the poll were published, O'Rourke's campaign sent out a fundraising email celebrating the results, telling supporters, "You are helping us do this the right way."

O'Rourke said the results won't change how he's running his campaign.

"We're going to continue running this campaign the right way — holding town halls everywhere across the state, taking our direction from those we want to represent and putting our trust completely with the people of Texas," he said in a statement.

Cruz's campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.

O'Rourke's biggest obstacle remains his name recognition, according to the results of the Quinnipiac University Poll. When he first started his campaign, few voters outside of his hometown of El Paso knew him and many Texans still don't.

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Here are seven political figures who changed their names long before Rafael "Ted" Cruz and Robert "Beto" O'Rourke.
John C. Moritz/USA TODAY NETWORK

For several different questions, almost half of the poll's respondents said they did not know enough about the Democrat to formulate an opinion.

Of the respondents, 46 percent had a favorable view of Cruz and 44 percent said they had an unfavorable view. For O'Rourke, 30 percent said they had a favorable view of him while 16 percent did not. But 53 percent of respondents said they did not know O'Rourke enough to answer.

A similar pattern emerged when respondents were asked whether they liked each candidate as a person. Of the participants, 47 percent said they liked Cruz as a person and 38 percent said they didn't. For O'Rourke, 40 percent said they liked him and 13 percent said they didn't. Another 47 percent were undecided.

O'Rourke had a leg up over Cruz among independent voters, 51 percent of whom backed the Democrat.

"The key may well be independent voters," Brown said. "But Texas remains a strong GOP state so O’Rourke will need the independent strength to pull the upset.”

Pollsters also asked respondents which issues are the most important when casting their vote for the U.S. Senate. Twenty-five percent said immigration and health care, 22 percent said the economy and 16 percent said gun policy.